As the World Falls Down
by Silver Miko
Summary: DrHr ONESHOT Because of one occurance, so small yet severe, her world came tumbling down.


Author Note: Just a moment in time, nothing more.

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As The World Falls Down

She sighed, feeling exhausted despite it only being the start of her day. She had a lot of work ahead of her and for once in her life she was not looking forward it. There was about a month and a half of school left and with so many projects due and tests to be taken it was any wonder Hermione Granger found the time to even eat or sleep.

Sure she always looked forward to the pursuits of academia, the pleasures of text and research, the feel of a quill scratching parchment...but even Hermione Granger, top student and brightest witch of her age, had limits.

After quickly having breakfast, Hermione returned to her dorm room to grab her books and made her way down the hallways towards the prefects meeting room. She had her weekly prefect report to do, and figured at that early hour it would be empty and she could get her other work done. Lately there had been more people than usual in the library, and she found it too busy to focus.

And she hated not having the solace of the library.

Lately Ron and Harry had kept their distance, which Hermione was actually grateful for. Her patience was thin these days and her curriculum workload left her nerves frazzled. Nearing the meeting room, she opened the door and left it slightly ajar (it wasn't a large room and sometimes it made her feel claustraphobic) and began shuffling around looking for a blank report to file.

She heard footsteps and paused from her spot near the counter too look up and at the door. The footsteps sounded familiar somehow, and she accessed in her mind who else had been in the corridor she had walked down. A brief flash of blonde came to mind and she sighed. Sure enough, Draco Malfoy glided through the door, looking around briefly before walking to stand two feet from her.

"Oi Granger, do you know if we have anything due in Advanced Potions?"

Hermione sighed, hating the slight skip of her heartbeat and the sudden seeming amplification of her nerves.

"No. We're supposed to talk to him about our assigned projects in class." she replied, turning her gaze away to return to her work. She figured that would be it, he would leave with some snide remark, but he didn't.

He paced closer, watching what she was doing.

"Did you need something else, Malfoy?" she asked, keeping her voice controlled.

Why now? Why all of a sudden was this happening?

"No."

Hermione shook her head and yawned.

"I'm so tired." she commented to herself.

"Same here," he began, and Hermione turned her gaze back to him as he spoke, "I spent the night in Hufflepuff in a girl's room. Jill. I don't believe you know her?"

She wanted to scream.

"No, I don't think so."

"Ah, well then."

She wanted the conversation to end. It was odd, too odd. They never conversed like this. If needed to ask her something, he did and went on his own way.

And he hadn't even said anything derogatory to her yet and it had been a full almost two minutes.

He was too close to her and she didn't know what to do, her hands frozen at her sides.

He looked at her a moment, then seemed to slightly shake his head.

"See you in class." he said, then exited the room.

The blank reports, assignments, all of it blanked out of Hermione's mind.

What had just happened?

She walked quickly to the door and shut it, and when she was sure she was alone jumped up and down and screamed. Frustration coursed through her.

"What the _hell_ is that boy about?!" she groaned to herself.

But what really dismayed her was not merely Malfoy, but that she...

She loathed to admit what was terribly undeniable as of late.

She, whether she liked it or not, was in some manner perversly attracted to the boy she considered a first class git. But she held onto the steadfast, unshakable truth that he would NEVER feel the same.

And now it was uneasy and breaking.

And her world of absolute truths in that manner was falling down.


End file.
